Amherst College invites applications and nominations for the position of dean of admission and financial aid. Reporting to the president and serving as a member of the College’s senior staff, the dean is responsible for all aspects of admissions and financial aid, including student recruitment, selection, and the financial aid process. The dean serves as a highly visible advocate and spokesperson for the College’s mission and offerings as well as the principles of student access and need-blind admission.

Amherst is among this country’s most diverse and selective liberal arts colleges, renowned for its intellectual rigor, the quality of its student body, and the contributions of its alumni. Amherst is a true “research college,” where faculty members break important ground in their fields without sacrificing their commitment to the bedrock endeavor – the teaching of students, mostly in small groups, often one-on-one, and always with personal involvement. The College has become a national leader in the conversation about the importance of liberal arts education, as well as its financial aid policies, outreach to international students, and insistence that the privilege of an Amherst education comes with an enduring obligation of service.

Amherst’s admission program is one of the nation’s most competitive, and the College’s admission policies give strong emphasis to student achievement, diversity, and access. The new dean will lead a team responsible for recruiting, enrolling, and aiding extraordinarily talented classes of highly motivated students, and will be expected to build on current strengths, enhance national and global visibility and reach, and deftly manage the many competing imperatives so that the College’s priorities are reflected in each incoming class. Amherst benefits from a strong faculty governance model; the new dean will have an especially close working relationship with faculty within which matters of admission policy and practice are continuously and collaboratively explored and evaluated.

Amherst offers one of the most comprehensive and ambitious financial aid programs in the country. The College is fiercely dedicated to access and is need blind at every step of the admission process including for international students, transfer students, and waitlisted students. Amherst is proud to be one of the first colleges in the country to adopt a no-loan policy for all of its students. In addition, Amherst has been a leader in international admission and financial aid; international students are recruited and admitted without regard to ability to pay, and full calculated need is met for each.

Amherst’s student body represents nearly every state and over 50 countries. Forty-five percent of the College’s students self-identify as students of color, ten percent are international, fourteen percent are the first in their family to attend college, and fifty-six percent receive need-based financial aid.

The new dean of admission and financial aid will bring substantial leadership-level experience as an admission and/or financial aid officer of national distinction. The new leader will have superior communication skills – including strong listening skills – and the ability to make connections across the College in order to promote open dialogue and the sharing of information. Above all, the new dean will be dedicated to the mission and people of Amherst and to the College’s value of the liberal arts, the importance of critical thinking, the centrality of access and inclusiveness, and the imperative to prepare students to use ideas to make a difference in the world.

Inquiries, nominations and applications are invited. Review of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled; for fullest consideration, interested individuals are encouraged to submit credentials by no later than March 26. Candidates should provide a professional resume and a letter of application that addresses the responsibilities and requirements described in the leadership profile, available at www.wittkieffer.com. Materials should be sent electronically via e-mail to the college’s consultants Robin Mamlet and Patricia Coleman at [email protected]. The consultants can be reached by telephone through the desk of Leslie Donahue at 630-575-6178.

Amherst College does not discriminate in admission, employment, or administration of its programs and activities on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, color, religion, sex or gender (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender expression, and gender identity), age, disability, genetic information, military service, or any other characteristic or class protected under applicable federal, state, or local law. Amherst College complies with all state and federal laws that prohibit discrimination, including Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, Title IX, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Equal Pay Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Inquiries should be addressed to the Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer, Amherst College, P.O. Box 5000, Amherst, MA 01002-5000.